


not scared anymore

by dykenance



Series: byeler holiday bash [4]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Byeler - Freeform, Christmas, Holidays, M/M, PTSD, byler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21866965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dykenance/pseuds/dykenance
Summary: “Mike,” he murmurs, defeated, “you have to let me go.”prompt: upside down christmas. santa who? we're talking krampus.
Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Series: byeler holiday bash [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572577
Comments: 6
Kudos: 60





	not scared anymore

Waking up here is like accepting a death wish, and Mike knows it.

He doesn’t know how he wound up bogged down in the Nether, arms tangled in a deadly substance, and he can’t find any other signs of life or light or safety.

_ Okay, Mike _ , he thinks to himself,  _ you can do this _ .

Will had confided in him extensively about this place, often over tea, on the chilling nights where he woke up in a fit of screaming, and on the days where his eyes glossed over and they had to take things a little bit slower than usual. 

There are about a billion things that can kill you aside from the cold and starvation, so he has to be vigilant at all times, no matter what happens.

Mike can do this.

“Mike?”

Faster than the speed of light, Mike whips his head around, and it’s enough to see Will alive and in front of him; he clambers out of the vines and sticky substances surrounding his feet, and shouts his name, running up to the boy and grabbing onto his wrists.

“Will! Oh my god, I’m so glad you’re okay. I thought I’d lost you again.” He throws his arms around the shorter boy, who stiffly raises his arms to Mike’s sides.

“How did you get down here?” he mutters absently, fingers flat against Mike’s back. “What happened?”

Mike pulls back, a minimal frown pinching his forehead, and blinks down at Will. “I don’t know,” he answers. “But I can get you out of here, okay? We can get out together, I promise. Please don’t be scared.”

Will shakes his head. “I’m not scared anymore.”

“Oh.” Mike pauses, mind racing, then continues, “Well, that’s good. A level head will get us through this.”

Will’s face twists and he takes several steps back from Mike, muttering rapidly under his breath and pacing. It’s a bizarre sight to see, and Mike is reeling from the odd response; normally Will would hug back, would jump at the opportunity to escape; but now he’s vacant and distant and gone.

“They promised.”

“Will…” Mike tentatively steps closer, caution in his voice, but Will steps back just as quickly, jumpy as ever. “Will, what’s wrong?”

Will lifts his eyes to Mike, and it’s only then that Mike realizes he’s started crying, revealing anguish beneath his empty eyes. “They promised me that you’d be safe.”

“Who? What are you talking about?” This time, when Mike steps closer, Will lets him grab him, and he just about drops to the ground, slumping in his grip. Mike frowns.

Will scrunches his eyes shut tight, shaking his head. “Nevermind! Let’s--let’s just have a good Christmas, okay?”

“ _ What _ ?” Mike trembles in confusion and from the cold settling into his veins. “We gotta get back to our families! They’re probably out of their minds looking for us, Will, I know I was.”

It’s like he can feel Will’s heart break in his arms. “I can’t.”

Mike’s stomach, world, everything drops. “What?”

“I--” he sighs. “I made a deal. They said if I surrendered...they’d leave everyone alone. So, I have to stay, Mike. I’m sorry.”

If the world could stop turning, this is what Mike imagines it would feel like.

“You can’t do that.”

“It’s already done.”

“No, you—” his breath hitches so harshly that he nearly doubles over. “You--you can’t. Will, your mom will  _ kill  _ me if you don’t come back, and what--why--we got you back, they can’t do this to us--they can’t--”

The look on Will’s face is enough to put out the light of the sun. “Mike,” he murmurs, defeated, “you have to let me go.”

His lip wobbles. “Will, please, tell me what I can do to make them stop.”

The boy is silent.

“No, come on, Will! This can’t be the end! I finally fucking got you back, finally—f-finally had you safe, you were  _ okay _ and I can’t do this without you because—because I love you and you can’t die on me and not  _ know _ that. Come home with me.” He clutches Will’s wrist in a death grip. “Please.”

A smile breaks out on Will’s face and it’s the most beautiful thing Mike has ever seen in this filthy world; something to battle the stars, to cure the ugliest of sadness. “I know, Mike.” He reaches up to touch his cheek. “I promise.”

“You—you can’t let them do this. They can’t win, they don’t deserve you.” He’s sobbing at this point, words strained and ruined in his throat. “Please, come home—“

“I can’t—”

“Please, we can do anything you want,” Mike smears tears with the back of his hand, “we can go home and be safe and some day we can be really, truly happy, but you have to leave this place.”

Will takes a step back. “I have to go.”

“No, I—“

“I’m so sorry.”

Mike stumbles forward, but Will fades just slightly into the distance. With each step forward, he falls further back.

_ Merry Christmas, Mike. _

Mike falls to the ground and pounds it with his fists, screaming back at the echo in the air.

Mike sits up with a gasp, pushing himself into a sitting position with both of his hands grasping the sheets beneath him. He pats around the tight bed frantically, orienting himself in the dim lighting and muttering under his breath.

Beside him, someone stirs, waking with a quiet moan.

“Mike?”

Mike shuts his eyes tight, shaking his head. “No, no, no.”

“Mike, baby.” It’s Will. Again. His fingers circle Mike’s forearm. “What are you dreaming of?”

He trembles, forming mere fragments between the anxious shaking in his voice. “You—you were going to--to stay in the Upside Down, I couldn’t get you to come with me, the—it got you, Will, it really got you.”

Will guides him back down to the bed gently, holding onto his hand all the way. He watches Mike carefully, and he looks so beautiful under the soft Christmas lights that they’d hastily strung up that Mike could cry.

“Hey, hey, hey, Mike, it’s alright,” he murmurs. He leads Mike’s hands to his own face, layering his fingers over Mike’s. “You can feel me, babe. This is real. I promise, everything is alright.”

Mike’s lungs are still cold, but he does his best to slow down and focus on Will’s face. Will wipes at his groggy eyes and blinks slowly at Mike, smiling softly.

“Babe, I’m okay.” He wraps Mike up in a sleepy hug, as tight as he can in their subdued state. “I’m safe, and so are you.”

Mike tries to ignore the fact that his tears are bleeding incessantly into Will’s shirt, even though he feels bad about it. Will would never care. “Dream you is a bitch.”

Will laughs at that and pulls back, catching Mike’s lips in a kiss. It’s long and gentle, with Will running his thumb over Mike’s cheekbone soothingly, and Mike can finally breathe again. Apparently sensing this, Will pulls away and kisses at Mike’s cheek, his nose (making Mike scrunch it up and giggle), and back to his lips.

Then he pulls back and looks up at Mike tenderly, glowing in the soft lighting. “Merry Christmas, Mike. I love you.”

“Merry Christmas,  _ darling _ , I love you too.”

Will rolls his eyes and smiles warmly, eyes closed. “Now try to get some sleep, alright?”

And finally, restfully, in the arms of the boy that he loves, he does.

**Author's Note:**

> a slightly more sophisticated version of everyone's "and then he woke up. the end" creative writing assignment dsjghkdjh i hope you guys enjoyed!! please comment/leave kudos if you did <3 also my tumblr is @lesbian-hopper, feel free to hit me up there!!


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